(Look away now if you are at all squeamish, or prone to religious fervor…)

So, Here in The South, (yes the capitalization is intentional, just ask around), we have more than our fair share of church-minded folk. And it is here, perhaps more than anywhere else in America, that you will find a large portion of religious adherents – such as they are – who claim that The Bible should be taken literally – such as they do.

Biblical Literalism.

The South is rife with it. And I hear about it too much, (both in passing and to my face). Being an Atheist, I guess people feel like they need to explain it to me, slow-ly, because I just must not have understood it before. And let me tell you, that makes my palm itch to have a quick discussion with their face, but I digress.

So, in a bit of turn-about being fair play, allow me to explain something I think the biblical literalists have missed:

Insisting that The Bible must be taken literally is Idolatry.

Here’s the quick and dirty of the argument:

1) Insisting that the Bible is the literal truth entails that the Bible is inerrant.

2) If the Bible is inerrant, then God has no power to change what the Bible says or predicts.

(Predicts is the important part here, as most religious philosophers do not think it is even logically possible to change the past. And God does not have to be capable of anything that is logically impossible in order to maintain his omnipotence)

3) Therefore, an inerrant Bible is set above God.

And that is pretty much text book idolatry. Being thus, it also breaks the first and second commandments of the Decalogue.

Like I said: quick and dirty.

I hope everyone receives this post in the spirit in which it was written; with tongue firmly wedged in cheek.